Faculty Friday: Chuck Grieb’s Lifelong Animation Journey

As Chuck Grieb, MFA, was eating breakfast with his wife one morning a few years ago, he witnessed two hummingbirds jousting like knights, and began creating illustrations for what would become his self-published book “The Goblin Twins- A Garden Clan Tale.” The book contains more than 100 illustrations, featuring inspiration from creatures he noticed in real life, such as rabbits in his yard and a bobcat on the street. Grieb’s creative initiative began long before his career in animation and storytelling. He has created art for as long as he can remember.

At around three-years-old, Grieb was watching Jason and the Argonauts with his dad, and asked how the skeletons on screen came to life. “They’ve got skinny actors,” his father replied. Grieb was determined to discover the real answer, and by age seven he started building his first stop motion animation armatures in his grandparents’ basement using wooden dowel rods and erector sets.

It was not until he started studying cinema at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he was born and raised, that he had the opportunity to start shooting animation. Before then, “it was all just dreams.” Grieb then went to USC for graduate school, where he found other aspiring animation artists and worked on films with renown animators. Throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies, Grieb navigated most of the animation world on his own, exploring the field during a time when resources in film schools were more limited than they are today. When asked what advice he would give to his college self, Grieb offered a simple answer: “just draw more.”

Grieb’s first professional work in animation was as a storyboard artist for Disney Television Animation, where his wife, Wendy, a former elementary school art teacher, began working as an animator as well. He completed storyboards, character designs, and digital animation for shows such as 101 Dalmatians, Genie’s Great Minds, Pepper Ann, Timon and Pumba, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh.

One day in 1996, Grieb received a phone call from Dave Brain, an animator and director, asking if he would be interested in teaching an animation drawing class at Glendale Community College. When Grieb went home and told his wife, she encouraged him to give teaching a shot. He had often helped her create lesson plans for her art classes, and when Grieb started teaching, he fell in love with creating a positive impact on the students he taught. It was not until nearly 20 years into his teaching career that Grieb’s wife admitted that Brain had called her first about the job.

For nine years Grieb taught one night a week while working as a full time animator. He developed a curriculum over the years and at one point even taught four classes simultaneously, bouncing back and forth between adjoining rooms, covering fundamentals, pre-production, and one-on-one workshopping with advanced students. The “dramatic change” that he began to notice in students ultimately led him to pursue teaching full time.

Grieb has animated films of his own that have been shown in more than 90 film festivals. His first independent film was called Roland’s Trouble. Grieb recalled a little boy shouting out “I liked that one!” when the film premiered in front of an audience for the first time at Newport Beach Film Festival. Grieb’s other independent films are Exact Change Only and Oliver’s Treasures.

Grieb’s faith plays a major role in the art he creates, although it’s not always seen at the surface level.

“As storytellers, it’s important that we consider the power of storytelling to embed themes, and to communicate those ideas, but we must also realize, it’s not going to show on the top, it’s going to be through the subtext more often than not if it’s going to truly be effective,” he said.

Grieb often thinks of themes that connect to Christ’s redemptive story, how people interact with one another, and the decisions they make that reflect Christian values.

After Animation and Visual Effect program director Tony Bancroft left APU in 2022 to move with his family to Tennessee, Grieb was invited to fulfill the role. Reflecting on why he loves teaching at APU, Grieb expressed how the school has wonderful faculty, staff, students, and facilities. “What’s happening in our program is special. Teaching APU students has been a wonderful privilege,” he said. Grieb commented on how rewarding the Industry Spotlight at Warner Bros. Studios was last year. He is proud of the exceptional work the students showed in front of a number of industry professionals who were thoroughly impressed with their creativity.

Grieb continues to foster creative and personal growth in his students everyday, offering one-on-one attention and serving as an example of pursuing one’s artistic passions.

Posted: October 13, 2023